1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a reactor intended for the implementation of chemical reactions involving a biomass.
Particularly in the field of water purification, many reactions can be carried out by living organisms that are capable of breaking down various organic materials during their biological processes, e.g., the respiratory process.
Thus, the elimination of organic pollution from aqueous effluents is achieved by maintaining, in vats containing the effluents to be treated, the development of a biomass for a given period of time, at the conclusion of which the biomass is separated by decantation of the liquid aqueous phase.
The term "biomass" refers to a population of living microorganisms, such as microbes, bacteria, or protozoa. In the water-purification field, the active biomass is usually referred to as "sludge".
To implement a purification treatment on a specific effluent, many parameters need to be studied, including in particular the compatibility of the treating sludge with the polluted effluent (i.e., to determine the presence, if any, in the effluent of substances that inhibit the properties of the sludges); the useful sludge concentration; the temperature; and, if necessary, the useful quantity of dissolved oxygen. The corresponding tests need to be carried out in large numbers, and therefore (for reasons of time and expense) at a much smaller scale than the scale of the purification plant.
2. Description of the Related Art including information disclosed under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98.
Small- or medium-volume model systems are already known that allow the study of treatment by sludge culture in an aerated medium. These model systems consist of an aeration vat, in which the sludges perform the purification in an aerated medium, and which is connected by means of an overflow system to a decantation vat. The sludges that accumulate in the decantation vat are recycled into the aeration vat by means of a tapping or bleed-off pipe. However, these systems have the disadvantage of needing maintenance at increasingly frequent intervals as the volume of the system decreases. In fact, the sludges tend to accumulate in the pipes with small cross-sections that make up the overflow system or the recycling circuit for the decanted sludges, such that the resulting blockages require interruption of the test so that the components can be cleaned.
Reactors consisting of a single aeration/decantation vat exist, but allow tests to be performed only semi-continuously. In such tests, a pre-determined amount of the effluent to be treated is introduced into the reactor containing the aerated sludge. The aeration is then halted in order to allow the sludge to decant, and the treated supernatant liquid is extracted. However, these systems do not allow the study of phenomena that require treatment of a large quantity of effluents, for example, study of the problems caused by an organic pollutant acting through a threshold effect.
Thus, there is still a need for a reactor that allows accurate simulation of the large-scale implementation of a biological process and that allows the study of all of the associated operational parameters.
The purpose of the present invention is to meet this need.